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Need help OC'ing.

C

cnick79

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 5, 2004
Messages
1,836
Mobo: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
CPU: P4 3.4ghz
RAM: here

Current OC:
CPU 3859.6mhz
Freq 227.0 mhz
Bus 908.1 mhz
1.7v

Mem 227.0 mhz
1:1
2.5-3-3-8
2.85v

I was finally able to get through a complete run of 3DMark05. Just like before my RAM was causing me to freeze up. I upped my cpu voltage to 1.70v and RAM to 2.85v but I was still freezing, however I was getting further than before. Finally, I changed my timings from 3-4-4-8 to 2.5-3-3-8 and was able to complete 3DMark05 and achieved my highest score of 71.524 from Aquamark3.

I need help with my memory. Can anyone suggest optimal timings or any other tweaks I could make? My goal is to get to 4.0+ghz. I know it can be done.
 
I'm not sure how stable this setup is because when I run Prime95 I get a

FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4

Is this memory related? Any possible fixes?
 
One way to eliminated memory as a problem while running Prime is to set your RAM to something like 3-4-4-8. You're almost guaranteed it won't be your RAM causing the issue.

You can also memtest the ram at the FSB you're running at to make sure it's stable (www.memtest86.com), run it overnight, you should get NO errors at all.

While running Prime, set it to the CPU only test to ensure it isn't your ram. If you get an error like that, you aren't stable. Back the FSB off one or two Mhz and try again.

Of course, if you're going for benchmarks you can make it through them while Prime isn't stable. I can't run Prime at 240x11 for more than 10 minutes, but I can get through all my benches to get my scores ;)

Always memtest your ram, if it can't get higher at those speeds, try 3-3-3-8. It's horrible timings, but I'm sure if you get your FSB high enough it will balance out :p
 
I keep finding myself going backwards. I can get my CPU pretty high but when it comes to playing games I crap out to the desktop and get some error about my .exe (not using any cracked .exe) and I click on "Do not send" and everything is fine. Right now I'm at 219 mhz with a bus of 875.8 at 1.70v. My memory timings are 1:1 3-4-4-8. I had SPD enabled so it automatically gave me those timings. I'm at a lose right now as I don't know what to do. I set the FSB:DRAM ratio to 5:4 but I then saw a drop in performance on my benchmarks. I knew memory was going to hinder my overclock but I didn't think I would get such poor results. It looks like my goal of 4.0ghz is unattainable. Would I have been better off with DDR500 ram instead of this ddr400?
 
If you're getting errors then you aren't stable. Run Prime and see if it dies, it probably will. I can bench at 240x11, but when playing games it'll crash sometimes, so I don't run normally at that setting.

Prime it.
 
Yes, it has been dying on me. The only time I could get it not to die was when I used a 5:4 ratio but what's the point in that when I had a performance hit. How far could I expect to push my DDR400? Maybe my expectations are set too high? What would I be better off doing - slowly pushing back my bus with mem timings of 2.5-3-3-8 or 3-4-4-8.

I'm starting to lose my patience.
 
Test your ram and CPU individually.

Start off with stock FSB / Divider settings and leave it at 1:1. Set your ram to your desired timings (at stock) and try 210FSB with those timings. Run a memtest for an hour or so, if it fails, loosen 1 number in your timings.

So lets say 2-2-2-5 fails at 210FSB (mine does), try 2-3-2-5 (which works for me). Then try 220 FSB. It will probably fail, so try 2.5-2-2-5 and see if that works. If it doesn't, try 2.5-3-2-5. You'll have to memtest it a lot to find out how far your ram can be pushed. Once you have a solid memtest at the FSB you would like (227 for example), then you'll know it's your CPU if you're still getting Prime errors with those settings.

In that case, you start backing off your FSB (I go back by 2 Mhz each try). So try 225 and see if it's stable, then 223. If you find that 225 is stable, but 227 is not, I like to try 226. Just to be sure you're getting your pure maximum overclock. Once you know for sure what your ram can handle (by testing it first in memtest and passing), then you will know it's your CPU causing the errors.

Chances are this will take you a few days. Generally I only memtest for 30 minutes or so during the day if I'm messing with things. Once I find it's stable at that speed I'll leave it and work on the CPU. At night I'll let the memtest run while I sleep to make sure those ram timings are actually stable for me and continue with whatever other chances I'll make the next day.

This is the best way to find your true maximum OC and ram settings overall, as far as I've found. Good luck! :)
 
Thanks for the advice. Tomorrow I'm going to start over and find how far my memory can be pushed. What type of OC numbers could I expect given my system? What's your system specs at?
 
Depends on the brand of memory you're using. As far as your CPU OC, it sounds fine. If you're into Windows and such it should be OK if you pull back a smidgen, but you'll only find out where that point is if you take a few days to max everything out and see how it all performs. You can find my specs in sig. 240x11 is only for benching, as it crashes in Prime ;)
 
My memory is Crucial DDR400 not sure the exact model. I ran my default settings and my memory had timings of 2.5-3-3-6 and my aquamark bench was 66,954. I don't think this memory will be too friendly to me. I'm going to give her hell tomorrow.

Also, does the AGP/PCI frequency have any importance? I read it should be kept at 60/30 or close to it.
 
66 / 33 optimal. Don't go higher, keep them locked at the default frequency or you can get errors all over the place.
 
I just ran memtest off my CD boot and it got 99% complete and 58% complete on the last test and then everything stopped. A cursor was still blinking but the tests stop. No errors were found. Did my system freeze or is this normal? The time stopped going too so I figure it's a freeze. My bus speed has been increased from 200-210mhz with stock timings and everything else.
 
Sounds like a system freeze. Back off the FSB a few if you're trying to find your max timings or try 2.5-2-2-5 or whatever it is higher compared to what you're currently trying.
 
My timings are 2.5-3-3-6. I believe those are the stock timings for my stick. If I want to find my max timings I should I back up the bus a little or back to stock and drop the timings to something like 2-3-3-6 or 2.5-2-3-6? What does finding the max timings do?
 
You want to find out how tight you can run your timings because better timings give better performance (albeit slightly). Since you're already at CAS2.5 and not past 215FSB, the only other place for you to go is 2.5-4-3-6 or 2.5-4-4-6. After that you'll be at CAS3 and probably notice the degraded performance unless you get the FSB way up there. You can try 3-2-2-6 or 3-3-3-6 as well to see if that will give you better performance.

If your CPU is freezing, you might want to back off your multiplier.
 
BigBadBiologist said:
What is your load CPU temp?
Click to expand...

Temp is 29c when this occurs. My water cooled system shouldn't allow temps to be a problem. Perhaps my memory is getting too hot? I have it running at 2.85v.
 
2.85v is fine, your ram won't be overheating or anything. Try looser timings, it's the only thing you can do.

Make sure your CPU frequency isn't super high as well so you can eliminate that as an issue. Underclock it if you have to, as long as your FSB is at whatever timings you want to test your memory, that's all that matters.

Find your max mem timings, then work on your max CPU OC.
 
yeah, probably not overheating :)

I've looked around and haven't been able to find much info on overclocking the Crucial RAM. However, this review http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=1828&p=10 shows that the RAM timings of the crucial don't want to go very low. This would lead me to think that it wouldn't overclock too far (generally you can trade off some timings for FSB, but if you can't get very tight timings at default speed, then you probably won't be able to gain much FSB). One thing you may be able to do is loosen some of the PAT settings. I don't know about Asus boards, but Abit boards let you change some of the PAT options. I know with my cheapo RAM, I was able to get a lot more FSB by lowering the PAT options.
 
joecuddles said:
You want to find out how tight you can run your timings because better timings give better performance (albeit slightly). Since you're already at CAS2.5 and not past 215FSB, the only other place for you to go is 2.5-4-3-6 or 2.5-4-4-6. After that you'll be at CAS3 and probably notice the degraded performance unless you get the FSB way up there. You can try 3-2-2-6 or 3-3-3-6 as well to see if that will give you better performance.

If your CPU is freezing, you might want to back off your multiplier.
Click to expand...

Let me get this straight. My goal should be to get the tightest timings at the highest FSB? To do that you find the lowest timings it will run at that bus speed and once you find timings that work inscrease the bus and test?
 
BigBadBiologist said:
One thing you may be able to do is loosen some of the PAT settings. I don't know about Asus boards, but Abit boards let you change some of the PAT options. I know with my cheapo RAM, I was able to get a lot more FSB by lowering the PAT options.
Click to expand...

PAT options? What is that and what does it stand for?
 
joecuddles said:
Make sure your CPU frequency isn't super high as well so you can eliminate that as an issue. Underclock it if you have to, as long as your FSB is at whatever timings you want to test your memory, that's all that matters.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I don't know of a way to underclock my CPU without changing my FSB speed. My Intel chip wont let me change the multiplier. My only way of OC'ing is through the bus. Is it not? I upped my timing to 2.5-3-4-6 and I'm memtesting it now.
 
PAT=performance acceleration technology

Asus may call it game acceleration technology or something. It was like precache timings and such for the 875 chipset. I'm not sure where those options are in the Asus BIOS.

One way to test your RAM is to set the RAM ratio to 4:5. This way your RAM is running faster than your FSB. That way you know that your RAM would be causing your instability. I think this is what the other guy meant by underclocking.
 
cnick79 said:
Let me get this straight. My goal should be to get the tightest timings at the highest FSB? To do that you find the lowest timings it will run at that bus speed and once you find timings that work inscrease the bus and test?
Click to expand...

Yes, that's your goal. If you can't change multiplier, it's all on your rams shoulder. You have to keep trying timings at higher FSB and keep them as tight as possible while being stable. It sounds like the ram just doesn't like to be overclocked, so you may find 220FSB or something small to be your limit.
 
It looks like this is going to be a lost cause if my RAM doesn't like to be pushed. I'd hate to drop some cash on RAM with lower timings when I could buy another stick and probably end up with the same performance. At least now I know what my goal is (besides getting memtest to finish) and I'll be sure to post my results.

There goes my dream of 4.0ghz. :(

Thanks for the help.
 
Sucks to hear that man, I know how dissapointed I was when I thought my RAM was a shitty overclocker when I had heard such great things, then I found out it was my SATA ports. It's dissapointing though, I know how you feel.

You might be able to grab some other ram that OC's well if it's in your budget. Hell, I'll sell you mine once I get some money for that sexy 'ol BH5 ;)
 
OK.... something is wrong. I ordered Corsair 3200C2PT RAM (the link in my first post) and I think I have 3200PT. I looked at the timings for the 3200PT and they are 3-3-3-8 which are the same timings my RAM runs at with SPD enabled. I think this explains why I haven't been able to get a high bus clock with timings of 2.5-3-3-6. C2PT is suppose to have timings of 2-3-3 with two modules installed and 2.5-3-3 for 4. I just ran memtest with everything at default 3-3-3-8, 200mhz bus and my memtest still stopped just like before. I ran prime95 all night last night and all day today at 200mhz FSB 1:1 2.5-3-3-6 and no errors. Something is wrong with my system or memtest. Is there a different memtest program I can try? I also used a 5:4 ratio at 2.5-3-3-6 and same result.

Also joecuddles, you mentioned something about having problems with your SATA ports? I have 2 raptor drives in raid 0. Think they could be causing a problem somehow?

I forgot to mention. I checked the sticks of ram and they do say 3200C2PT.
 
Ok I think I found the max bus my CPU will run on, 220mhz. Kinda shitty for a P4 3.4ghz, no? It has to be my CPU because my RAM at 3:2 FSB:DRAM ratio at 230mhz 3-4-4-8 timings and I still froze in Prim95, even with 1.7v for the CPU. I can run at 220mhz 5:4 2.5-3-3-6 or 220mhz 1:1 3-4-4-8. I'm still going to play with the timings and maybe bump up the bus a notch or two. I tested at 225mhz 5:4 2.5-3-3-6 and got my best Aquamark score of 69.7K but still froze during Prime95. I might be able to do 225mhz with loser timings but the outlook is not so bright for it.
 
Pfft, Prime95. Take that with a grain of salt. If you can bench / play games without your PC hard booting or causing errors, consider it stable.
 
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